Wearing Thin

The fashion industry believes that golfers don't want to wear ugly clothes. So they're coming out with some options.

By

Ray A. Smith

Updated April 7, 2008 11:59 p.m. ET

Memo to players: Golf fashion is an oxymoron no more.

Now at a pro shop near you, in addition to collections from stalwarts Greg Norman, Bobby Jones and Callaway Golf, there's a new wave of lines from the fashion industry, including Calvin Klein and Stella McCartney. Golf is also getting style injections from Tommy Bahama, Levi Strauss & Co.'s Dockers San Francisco and Lincs by David Chu, a line from Mr. Chu the Nautica founder, who just signed a deal to outfit the on-air studio talent on cable's Golf Channel.

Meanwhile, brands including Chanel have also sprinkled their collections with golf clothing in recent years. Lacoste returned to the PGA Merchandise Show earlier this year after a seven-year absence and showed off an expanded golf-apparel range.

The Journal Report

They join a list of fashion houses, including Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., Lilly Pulitzer, Brooks Brothers, J. Lindeberg and Burberry Group PLC's Burberry, that have long had golf lines. Polo recently launched a luxury, high-performance line called RLX Golf. Lilly Pulitzer, King of Prussia, Pa., introduced a men's line last year, some of which the label says can work on the golf course, plus ties and belts with golf motifs.

Designer labels see a desirable demographic in golfers. "It doesn't surprise me these brands would be interested," says Joe Beditz, president and CEO of the National Golf Foundation in Jupiter, Fla. The 28.7 million golfers in the U.S. "tend to be upscale and are very attractive for apparel manufacturers," he says.

The fashion brands say their aim is to create golf apparel that, unlike much of traditional golf clothing, players could wear from the golf course to, say, a nice restaurant after a round without the clothes screaming, "I just came from playing golf."

They want to combat loud plaids, argyle, appliqu&eacute;, color-and-pattern clashing and oversized tentlike garments that have given golf apparel a bad rap. The designers are also trying to cater to their regular customers, who may want to wear those labels on the golf course, too.

"We're always looking for ways to extend the Calvin Klein lifestyle and aesthetic into new categories, so [golf] seemed like a logical opportunity," says Tom Murry, president of Calvin Klein Inc., owned by New York-based Phillips-Van Heusen Corp.PVH-0.10% "There wasn't, in our view, a global modern-fashion brand out there" for golfers, Mr. Murry says.

The fashion brands are crowding the course at a time of slipping apparel sales. According to the National Sporting Goods Association, in Mount Prospect, Ill., sales of clothing for golf in the U.S. fell to $1.4 billion in 2006, the latest year for which figures are available, from $1.6 billion in 2005. The hope is that some of the newness in apparel may spur sales and bring players into stores more frequently. Calvin Klein says it plans to deliver six golf collections a year to the golf stores carrying its line. "These consumers shop frequently, so it's important to have a consistent flow of newness," Mr. Murry says.

Performance Enhanced

While designer lines now found in the green-grass shops at courses take some cues straight from the fashion runways, they have been following one notable trend in the mainstream golf-apparel market: the emphasis on performance fabrics and technology. Indeed, designers say their lines marry style and performance.

The color palette for pants, shorts and skorts in Calvin Klein Golf, which launched late last year, is heavy on neutral grays, blacks and khakis, in line with Calvin Klein in general. Shirts and other tops can be more colorful, especially those for women. In terms of performance, knits are embedded with moisture-control technology, sweaters have been treated to repel water, and outerwear is rain- and wind-resistant. Pants, shirts and skorts, with Lycra added for extra comfort, are treated to be wrinkle- and stain-free.

The line is manufactured by Windsong Sport LLC, owned by Windsong Allegiance Group LLC of Westport, Conn. Windsong Sport President Fran Matthews, who also serves as president of Calvin Klein Golf, is a former manager and director of high-profile golf lines, including for Polo Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger.

The Adidas by Stella McCartney golf collection was launched during London Fashion Week last September. The line is part of a collaboration between the German sporting-goods company Adidas AGADDYY1.51% and the high-end Stella McCartney, owned by PPR SA's Gucci Group.

The line, sold world-wide in high-end department stores such as Harrods and Nordstrom, as well as in Adidas Sport Performance and Stella McCartney stores, also attempts to wed style and function. Its Garbato shoe, for example, features waterproof technology, embroidered eyelets and a removable tongue to allow different styles and colors.

A lot of the clothing in the golf line launched in 2006 by Tommy Bahama, which is owned by Atlanta-based Oxford Industries Inc.,OXM-0.19% includes the brand's signature marlin and tropical prints. "The goal was to bring Tommy to golf, not golf to Tommy," says Don Kerkes, president of menswear at Tommy Bahama Group. The line also features performance aspects such as wicking and moisture-management technology.

Low-Tech, Too

At other companies, the functional additions aren't so technological. Vineyard Vines is known for its whimsical ties with whale motifs and for other preppy clothes. The Stamford, Conn.-based company recently introduced a fine-knit polo in mercerized lisle, a sturdy cotton thread, to make its golf shirts more comfortable for play in warmer climates. The shirts are longer to ensure they stay tucked in, and their arms are band-less, to make it easier to swing. For women, the company's new golf skort, in solid twill or seersucker, includes a back welt pocket -- a pocket without a flap -- to fit score cards and make it easier to get things in and out, and deep, discreet side pockets to hold golf balls.

One noticeable difference between designer golf clothes and more traditional lines is the fit, which in most of the designer lines is slimmed down and tailored. But not all of the designer brands are going after runway model-thin types. One exception is Calvin Klein, which is known for a sleek, modern fit, but makes its golf collection in two fits -- slim and classic. Classic is "a little larger to address that older consumer," Mr. Murry says, adding that the slim-fit apparel is slimmer than traditional golf clothing but not "extreme."

Another exception is Tommy Bahama, which describes the fit of its golf line as "generous," as in its nongolf apparel. "We cater to an American male; we don't go after a real contemporary customer," says Mr. Kerkes. "Usually our guy may have more than 2% body fat." Still, the line is not overly baggy.

'More Fun'

Traditional golf-apparel brands have taken notice and have updated their styles. "They didn't ditch the heritage in golf apparel, but they have reinvented it, made it more fun and interesting, thank goodness," says Susan Hickman, director of merchandising at the Professional Golfers' Association of America, the group based in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., that is dedicated to promoting the sport.

The industry is also hopeful that an increasing number of female golfers will fuel sales of more fashionable golf apparel.

"Over the years, more women have taken to the sport, and they are demanding they look good on and off the course," says Argy Koutsothanasis, fashion director at Golf for Women magazine, a publication of Golf Digest. "No more of the big boxy polos and pleated khakis" and sizing down of men's golf clothing, she says. In the 1980s, women in business felt they had to dress like men to be taken seriously, and it was a similar phenomenon in the golf market in the 1990s. In the late '90s, she says, things started to shift, with the period between 2001 and 2004 witnessing smaller, more fashion-conscious companies "forcing the fashion issue" and making styles more flattering.

Six-Week Cycles

Dockers San Francisco, which recently re-emphasized its men's golf line, launched a women's line last year. It is just as focused on performance as the men's line, and more conscious about keeping up with fashion trends, which move faster than men's.

Deliveries into the department stores that carry the women's lines are shipped every six weeks, versus every six months for men's, according to Barbara Gollert, vice president of women's merchandising at Dockers San Francisco. Color trends from runway shows and insights from color-forecasting firms are among the sources that inform the women's line. For the collection in stores now, that means pale sherbet and orange.

Another impetus for the style emphasis is the younger generation of golfers. The number of junior golfers, or players ages 6 to 17, rose to 4.8 million in 2006 from 4.4 million in 2005, the National Golf Foundation says. That generation has been brought up in a fashion-obsessed culture and is likely to want style on the golf course as well as in their off-course lives.

"We looked at all the golf fashions out there, and there just wasn't anything cool" for golfers in their 20s and 30s, says Cassie Wayne, who, with her 32-year-old twin sister, Willow Wayne, launched an edgy, youth-inspired collection called Death to Argyle last year in Santa Barbara, Calif. Says Cassie Wayne: "Everything made you look a lot older. Preppy in a prissy way."

—Mr. Smith is a staff reporter in The Wall Street Journal's New York bureau.

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